LR Feedback

[ZyTark]

I'm going to LR my TWF Halfling Barb tonight. While I love the TWF Barbarian style, it simply takes too many backpack slots to stay prepared, I simply don't have the plat-flow to keep her up-to-date on the various weapon types I need. Below is my plan for her from 1-20. She's 14 now, so who knows what may change beyond that point, but I am satisfied with this build.
Note: I know the Tumble may raise some eyebrows. Normally I'd dump into UMD, but she will never have a UMD high enough to be worthwhile. Tumble is a nice dump skill for a medium armor wearing toon. The Swim at level 20 is simply because I had no skills I could put those points in without ending up at a .5, so I dumped three points there.

Advice/Feedback is appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Without further adieu:


Mejai Kos
Level 20 Neutral Good Halfling Female
(20 Barbarian)
Hit Points: 462
Spell Points: 0
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 19
Reflex: 8
Will: 7

Starting Ending Feat/Enhancement
Abilities Base Stats Base Stats Modified Stats
(32 Point) (Level 1) (Level 20) (Level 20)
Strength 16 23 25
Dexterity 10 12 12
Constitution 18 20 23
Intelligence 8 10 10
Wisdom 8 10 10
Charisma 8 10 10

Tomes Used
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7

Starting Feat/Enhancement
Base Skills Modified Skills
Skills (Level 1) (Level 20)
Balance 2 12
Heal 1 11
Jump 7 32
Swim 3 10
Tumble n/a 7


Level 1 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+2)
Skill: Heal (+2)
Skill: Jump (+4)
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Barbarian Damage Boost I
Enhancement: Barbarian Sprint Boost I
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness I


Level 2 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage I
Enhancement: Barbarian Constitution I


Level 3 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Power Attack
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack I
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I


Level 4 (Barbarian)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Barbarian Damage Boost II
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness II


Level 5 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage II


Level 6 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Feat: (Selected) Cleave
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack II
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage II
Enhancement: Barbarian Frenzied Berserker I


Level 7 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Enhancement: Barbarian Damage Boost III


Level 8 (Barbarian)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Extend Rage III
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage II


Level 9 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage III


Level 10 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Improved Damage Reduction I
Enhancement: Barbarian Extra Rage III


Level 11 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II


Level 12 (Barbarian)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Feat: (Selected) Two Handed Fighting
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness III


Level 13 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Toughness IV


Level 14 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Frenzied Berserker II
Enhancement: Barbarian Constitution II


Level 15 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Two Handed Fighting


Level 16 (Barbarian)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Attack III
Enhancement: Barbarian Constitution III


Level 17 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Damage Boost IV


Level 18 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Feat: (Selected) Greater Two Handed Fighting
Enhancement: Barbarian Frenzied Berserker III


Level 19 (Barbarian)
Skill: Balance (+0.5)
Skill: Heal (+0.5)
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Tumble (+0.5)
Enhancement: Barbarian Power Rage IV


Level 20 (Barbarian)
Ability Raise: STR
Skill: Jump (+1)
Skill: Swim (+3)
Enhancement: Barbarian Improved Damage Reduction II
Enhancement: Barbarian Might

[ZyTark]

I'm hoping the views vs response ratio means there are no glaring issues with this build

[Dulcimerist]

I read your post just to get ideas for my Barb. I'm still a bit of a noob, so I couldn't offer much for advice.

The putting points into Heal is something I wish I had done to make better use of shrines. My point beyond Balance and Jump went into Intimidate, which I'm beginning to find less useful to me at level 12.

[ZyTark]

I read your post just to get ideas for my Barb. I'm still a bit of a noob, so I couldn't offer much for advice.

The putting points into Heal is something I wish I had done to make better use of shrines. My point beyond Balance and Jump went into Intimidate, which I'm beginning to find less useful to me at level 12.

That's one of the reasons, albeit a minor one, that I'm LRing. Most shrines hardly touch my HP right now. Previously I had put all my points outside of Jump and Balance into UMD, but quickly found I'd never have a UMD that'd allow me to use anything worthwhile.

[synkos]

Well, I'm looking at it and unless I've missed something it looks like a standard, solid barb build.

One could suggest dropping toughness in favor of stunning blow, but it's a matter of preference, gear and how much you actually do epics.

I don't see any negatives, we could talk about alternatives tho if you want.

[Khanyth]

Like others have said, a solid build.

If I were to suggest something, it'd be to change the race, but since I get the feeling that that isn't an option, it is what it is.

[ZyTark]

Thanks, folks. I'd be all for hearing alternatives.

Yeah, the race is kind of locked in now. I made her as a kind of joke toon initially, but ended up really enjoying it. She'll probably TR into a Half Orc or Warforged Barb one of these days

[Cam_Neely]

Personally I would suggest Spot (ya cross class, but I like it more then listen) over Heal or Tumble, but that is not a game breaker.

Another minor, i would go for extend rage Iv over some of the toughness, or Con III.

I also would suggest Stunning blow over Toughness, with an 18 starting Con and a +2 tome it should work out fine HP wise.

[synkos]

Personally I would suggest Spot (ya cross class, but I like it more then listen) over Heal or Tumble, but that is not a game breaker.

Ditto, spot is more useful leveling, however later on in most cases you'll know the mobs by heart so no big difference there.

Another minor, i would go for extend rage Iv over some of the toughness, or Con III.

Well, since I first swapped toughness for stun I figured I'll have a hard time respeccing my ehnancements to get a viable rage time and dwarven stun DC enhancements. It's been around 6 months now with "only" Extra/Extend II, which means 8 rages at a bit over 3:00. That's over 24 minutes of rage time. It seems like a lot. And by experience - it's plenty enough even for longer epics. If I had to choose like that I'd take toughness over extra/extend rage. And a definate no to dropping Con, at least until you get a +3 tome so you end up odd. Con is rage time, con is HP, con is a fort save.

I also would suggest Stunning blow over Toughness, with an 18 starting Con and a +2 tome it should work out fine HP wise.

I've mentioned this aswell. That's what I did at first. If you have gear to support that it works beautifuly, tier3 HP item, madstones, maybe a yugo pot. Makes up for the difference easily.

Alternatives..

What I did is assess my playstyle and made a somewhat temporary respec to both toughness AND stun - dropping IC:Slash. When I tought about what I play and how I do it it ended up either using a MinII GA or some kind of a maul (stun, pospos). I cannot say I would recommend it as I haven't played that way long enough to see if I actually miss IC, but it's an alternative (that depends on your weapon choice heavily).


Btw, stay halfling. Invest some time into TRing it to a fighter then back to barb again. Will have more than good stun DC and plenty of rage time however you build it

[ZyTark]

Thank you again for the responses. I tend to be the main tank with my guild, which is one of the reasons I specced for max HP. I'm honestly kind of leery about dropping toughness for anything, as that'll essentially cost me 70 hp. That's quite a loss. Is it really a fair trade? As it stands now I have 7 rages at 2.5 minutes each. So long as I don't waste them on trash mobs, it seems to be enough to suffice most quests.

I do have a question about ITHF and GTHF: are they really worth taking? Reading the description, it seems they're only that useful when standing still and swinging. It seems I spend a good deal of time in motion while fighting, so I was wondering if I should perhaps drop those for Stunning Blow and something else more viable.

Thanks again for your input, folks. It's a great help.

Mejai

P.S. Synkos, I'm curious why you say to stay Halfling. Granted, I get a kick out of this little toon taking on groups of mobs that completely engulf her, and the Halfling Size Bonus is kind of cool. Is there another reason you'd recommend staying with that race?

[synkos]

Thank you again for the responses. I tend to be the main tank with my guild, which is one of the reasons I specced for max HP. I'm honestly kind of leery about dropping toughness for anything, as that'll essentially cost me 70 hp. That's quite a loss. Is it really a fair trade? As it stands now I have 7 rages at 2.5 minutes each. So long as I don't waste them on trash mobs, it seems to be enough to suffice most quests.

I know I was reluctant to drop it too, but once I did I noticed that nothing changed with regards to my survivability really.

I do have a question about ITHF and GTHF: are they really worth taking? Reading the description, it seems they're only that useful when standing still and swinging. It seems I spend a good deal of time in motion while fighting, so I was wondering if I should perhaps drop those for Stunning Blow and something else more viable.

Heh, the thf line was a little iffy with the changes to glancing blows but I would still suggest to stay with it. There will be plenty of situations where you will profit from them, 99% of boss fights you just stand there and beat on them and it does make a difference.

P.S. Synkos, I'm curious why you say to stay Halfling. Granted, I get a kick out of this little toon taking on groups of mobs that completely engulf her, and the Halfling Size Bonus is kind of cool. Is there another reason you'd recommend staying with that race?

Well, I was just mainly giving you support to dare to be different Other races might give you better synergy, true, but halfling barbarians are just cool ^^

[Belwaar]

It's not a bad build, but I'd switch up your feats:

1: THF
3: Power Attack
6: Cleave
9: Improved Critical: Slashing
12: ITHF
15: Toughness/Stunning Blow
18: GTHF

I always take my Jump to 20 then stop. Also try to max out balance. Listen/Spot are both nice, and put some in haggle to make some extra coin.

[ZyTark]

I know I was reluctant to drop it too, but once I did I noticed that nothing changed with regards to my survivability really.

I'm going to come back to this one. Sure would free up a lot of action points for other enhancements.

Heh, the thf line was a little iffy with the changes to glancing blows but I would still suggest to stay with it. There will be plenty of situations where you will profit from them, 99% of boss fights you just stand there and beat on them and it does make a difference.

Cool. I'll stick to your advice on this then. Admittedly, I haven't done many large fights yet. To this point, then only real raid I've run is VoN, and Velah isn't that big of a baddy. I'll certainly side with experience.


Well, I was just mainly giving you support to dare to be different Other races might give you better synergy, true, but halfling barbarians are just cool ^^

lol. You'd be surprised how many times people think she's a rogue, especially when she was a TWFer. I love seeing people try race/class combos outside of the norm

It's not a bad build, but I'd switch up your feats:

1: THF
3: Power Attack
6: Cleave
9: Improved Critical: Slashing
12: ITHF
15: Toughness/Stunning Blow
18: GTHF

I always take my Jump to 20 then stop. Also try to max out balance. Listen/Spot are both nice, and put some in haggle to make some extra coin.

Right on. She's just about to hit 15 now, at which point she'll be taking ITHF. That'll put her right in sync with your suggestion by the time she hits 18. This will be great to keep in mind when I TR her though. Thank you